1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to footwear. More particularly, the invention relates to an athletic shoe having lacing which wraps around the toe and the heel.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Traditional athletic shoes have upper central exterior lacing systems. These lacing systems are typically channeled through one or more eyelets that are generally positioned on both sides of the center top of the shoe. This type of design fails to provide adequate support to an athlete by limiting the securing area to generally the upper portion of the foot. For example, in sports applications these traditional designs may be physically dangerous to an athlete by allowing the athlete's foot to slide or otherwise move within the shoe during use.
Several attempts have been made to overcome the above-mentioned deficiencies. For example, designs have been proposed wherein the lace system is entirely internal and/or where the lace system wraps around only the heel portion of a shoe to provide a better means for securing the foot within the shoe. Two noteworthy examples of such designs are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,078 to Cochrane and U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,233 to Gaither.
Cochrane discloses an apparatus for supplying supporting force in a boot or the like having predetermined first and second sides, the apparatus having a force applying system including a plurality of first securing points mounted in substantially fixed relation on the boot on the first side, a second securing point mounted in substantially fixed relation on the boot on the second side and a force applying member linking through the system the first securing points and the second securing point and adapted to draw the first and second securing points substantially toward each other to apply a selected force capturing the foot in the boot.
Gaither discloses an internal lacing system for footwear wherein a plurality of lace guides having rotatable rollers are secured and strategically positioned throughout a shoe to facilitate the securing of the foot within the shoe. An elongated lace having a first end and a second end is internally channeled through each of the lace guides and over the respective rollers, wherein the second end of the elongated lace exits the internal of the shoe at the upper portion of the shoe proximal to the shoe opening. The first end of the elongated lace is secured within the shoe proximal to the toe area of the shoe. To tighten the shoe, a user pulls on the exposed second end of the lace thereby allowing the lace to roll along each respective roller positioned within each lace guide.
These designs teach the use of internal lacing systems or heel lacing in boots and incorporate more complicated and/or bulky fastening means and thus, are not suitable for typical shoes, especially athletic shoes. Moreover, lacing systems that only wrap around the heel of the shoe do not provide maximum securing of the entire foot within the shoe.